System and methods for live and replay utilization and tracking of vehicular movement and response

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for live utilization and tracking of vehicular movement producing a fluid representation of the movement of vehicles and means to evaluate vehicle movement/activities relative to response requirements may be provided. Accordingly, real-time evaluations and/or corrections may be made based on this improved tracking of movement/activities. Replay analysis of movement/activities that have already occurred may be provided to evaluate and make adjustments for future responses and activities. Colors and other unique display items may be used to highlight different activities, movements and/or timing for completion within an online mapping application. Layering of different mapping displays also may be provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/198,186, filed on Jun. 30, 2016, and now pending, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/013,984, filed onAug. 29, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,646,498, which is a non-provisionalpatent application of and claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No.61/720,814 filed Oct. 31, 2012, each of which is hereby incorporated byreference for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to vehicle tracking, and moreparticularly to live and replay utilization and tracking of vehicularmovement and response.

BACKGROUND

A dispatched emergency vehicle needs to respond to a call and reach thescene as quickly as possible. Use of GPS tracking may assist theemergency vehicle and/or dispatcher in determining the quickest route tothe scene; however, the emergency vehicle does not always have thebenefit of receiving real-time data about the call or route and/or theability to interact directly with the dispatcher in a visual form. Otherthan by communicating through cellular or paging technology, thedispatcher also may be limited in the amount of information that he/shereceives related to the dispatched emergency vehicle and accordingly mayhave limited ability to provide updates in real-time to ensure that theemergency vehicle reaches the scene in the specified amount of time.Further, the dispatcher or operator may be limited in the ability toreview what happened when an emergency vehicle responded to a call otherthan reviewing time stamps from an onboard tracking device associatedwith an emergency vehicle.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a system for live andreplay tracking of vehicular movement, the system comprising a livemodule that may evaluate and make corrections to the vehicular movementin real-time, and a replay module that may replay the vehicular movementand evaluate historical data concerning the vehicular movement. The livemodule and the replay module each may utilize a menu and a mappingapplication. The live module and replay module may share data about thevehicular movement stored in one or more databases and transmitted viaone or more servers over a communication network. The system may furthercomprise a reporting module to evaluate the vehicular movement, whereinreports may be generated based on the data about the vehicular movementstored in the one or more databases, the reports using one or moreparameters including date, type of call and timeliness of response tocall. The menu of the live module and the replay module may selectivelydisplay at least one of the following items within the respectivemapping application: a post location, a call location, an allowableresponse time remaining to reach a call location, a reporting zone, acurrent unit status, and satellite imagery associated with a post orcall location.

Other embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a system forlive tracking and evaluation of an emergency unit responding to a call,the system comprising a module including a menu providing one or moreselectable items and a mapping application, wherein the one or moreselectable items may be selectively displayed within the mappingapplication as the emergency unit responds to the call, and acommunication link to receive and transmit information related to theemergency unit responding to the call. The one or more selectable itemsmay comprise reporting zones, active responses, units, places, andposts. The mapping application may display a colored line connecting theemergency unit to a response location, wherein the color of the coloredline may correspond to the priority level of the call associated withthe response location. The active responses may provide informationabout the determinant, time remaining before a response is consideredlate, and an identification of the emergency unit assigned to respond tothe call. The mapping application may selectively display informationabout more than one emergency unit at a time. Units may be furthersubdivided into one or more selectable status indicators comprisingavailable radio, dispatched, en route, on scene, transporting, transportarrive, en route to post, on post, and out of service. Each of the oneor more selectable status indicators may be displayed within the mappingapplication at a given time. In another embodiment, one of the one ormore selectable status indicators may be displayed within the mappingapplication at a given time. Each of the one or more selectable statusindicators may be assigned a color that may be displayed within themapping application. The emergency unit displayed may be selectablewithin the mapping application, and a pop-up window may appear withinthe mapping application when the emergency unit is selected. The pop-upwindow may provide one or more items comprising the unit number, namesof the crew members, the amount of time remaining in the unit's shift,current destination, velocity, call nature, scene location, anddirection options. The system may track the status of the emergency unitas it approaches the end of its assigned shift and may display a numberindicating the amount of time left in the assigned shift within themapping application. Posts may be further subdivided into one or morecategories that may be selectively displayable within the mappingapplication, the one or more categories comprising all posts, activeposts, and post recommendations. A colored circle may be displayedwithin the mapping application around a response location, the coloredcircle gradually constricting as the time to respond decreases andwherein the color of the colored circle may correspond to the emergencyunit assigned to respond to the call and the response location displayedwithin the mapping application. The system also may include a reportingmodule to evaluate the performance of the emergency unit responding tothe call, wherein reports may be generated based on one or moreparameters including date, type of call and timeliness of response tocall.

Additional embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a systemfor replay evaluation of an emergency unit response to a call, thesystem comprising a module including a menu providing one or moreselectable items and a mapping application, wherein the one or moreselectable items may be selectively displayed within the mappingapplication as the emergency unit response to the call may be replayedwithin the system. More than one emergency unit response to a call maybe displayed within the mapping application at a given point in time.Data associated with the one or more selectable items may be obtainedfrom a live module that may evaluate an emergency unit response to acall in real-time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, reference is nowmade to the following description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a view of a tracking module in operation according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts status and movement of several units mapped within amapping application integrated with systems and methods according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 depicts a view of a window that may be displayed within a mappingapplication when a unit has been selected according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 4 depicts another view of a mapping application with menu accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 depicts another view of a mapping application with menu accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 depicts another view of a mapping application with menu accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods for live utilization and tracking of vehicularmovement may produce a fluid representation of the movement of vehiclesand means to evaluate vehicle movement/activities relative to responserequirements according to embodiments of the present disclosure.Accordingly, real-time evaluations and/or corrections may be made basedon this improved tracking of movement/activities. Replay analysis ofmovement/activities that have already occurred may be provided in someembodiments of the present disclosure to evaluate and make adjustmentsfor future responses and activities. Reporting also may be provided tosummarize the results from utilization and tracking using systems andmethods according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide real-time tracking ofemergency vehicles within a specified geographic location through aweb-based mapping application, such as the Google Earth platform.Embodiments of the present disclosure also may provide for the displayof items including but not limited to post locations, call locations,the allowable (contractual or otherwise determined) response timeremaining to address individual emergencies, reporting zones, currentunit status, posting recommendations as well as satellite imageryassociated with the locations and reporting. Individual units may beanalyzed; however, more than one unit also may be analyzed at any giventime, thereby providing the ability to review and address actions ofunits both collectively and individually. By providing such real-timeand/or historical dispatch and response information through systems andmethods according to embodiments of the present disclosure, responsetime compliance may be addressed and emergency care may be improvedwithout as much need for individual inquiries of units or dispatchers.Systems and methods according to embodiments of the present disclosuremay be used to decrease response time thereby increasing responsivenessof the dispatchers and/or responding units.

Systems according to embodiments of the present disclosure may bedivided into one or more modules to address various dispatching,tracking, review and reporting needs. These modules may be referred toas “Pulse Live,” “Pulse Replay” and “Pulse Reporting.” Each of thesemodules may provide information that may assist in determining the mostappropriate unit to respond to a given call and/or evaluating whetherthe responding unit was the most appropriate unit to respond.

It should be appreciated that each module may run independently whiledata may be shared between the modules according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Accordingly, a system may include each of thesemodules, less than all of these modules, or additional modules withoutdeparting from the present disclosure. Systems incorporating one or moreof these modules may be installed within vehicles to provide mappingintelligence as well as means to communicate with dispatchers,controllers and operation managers. It also should be appreciated thatdispatches, controllers and operation managers similarly may utilizesystems according to embodiments of the present disclosure to monitorand direct vehicle movement and response in real-time as well as toevaluate previous responses through replay and report of responses andvehicular movement. Each of the modules may be integrated with anexisting web-based or online mapping application, such as Google Earth,or other similar mapping applications that may be later developedaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

A first module that may be utilized within systems according toembodiments of the present disclosure may be referred to as “PulseLive.” The “Pulse Live” module may provide a real-time mechanism toevaluate, monitor and track calls as they are processed and acted uponwithin systems according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Acall may be received and processed by a dispatcher, for example, toassign the call to a unit for response. In embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the unit associated with a particular call may be assigned acolor that corresponds to the call response location.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a line may be depictedwithin the mapping application to connect the unit to the responselocation. This line may be colored to correspond to the color that hasbeen assigned to the unit and the response location to simplify themechanism for a dispatcher to follow the unit as it travels to theresponse location. A unit also may utilize the line to track itsprogress as it travels a route to respond to a call. It should beappreciated that the line initially connecting the unit to the responselocation may not necessarily correspond to a street routing network(i.e., may not map the route) but rather may be depicted “as the crowflies” without departing from the present disclosure. As the route forthe unit to travel to reach the response location is generated, the lineconnecting the unit to the response location may change/update tocorrespond to the route selected according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Similarly, a user may change the route based on traffic orother issues that may arise during travel to a response location, andthe line may change accordingly.

FIG. 1 depicts a view of “Pulse Live” module 10 in operation accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. “Pulse Live” module 10 mayinclude menu 101 as well as mapping application 102; however, additionalfeatures may be incorporated into module 10 without departing from thepresent disclosure. Menu 101 may include various selectable items thatmay be mapped within mapping application 102 including but not limitedto reporting zones 101 a, active responses 101 b, units 101 c, places101 d and posts IOIe as will be discussed in more detail below.Selecting a box associated with any of these items depicted within menu101 may cause the individual item to be depicted within mappingapplication 102. Similarly, unselecting any item within menu 101 maycause that particular item(s) to disappear from view within mappingapplication 102. While dropdown menus and check boxes have been utilizedwithin menu 101 depicted in FIG. 1, it should be appreciated that otherselection mechanisms may be utilized to identify items to be mappedwithin mapping application 102 without departing from the presentdisclosure.

Menu 101 may include reporting zones 101 a that also may be referred toas emergency response zones according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For a given geographic location, such as a county, there maybe one or more reporting zones. For example, reporting zones mayconstitute cities or other unincorporated areas within a county.However, it should be appreciated that there may be more or fewerreporting zones established for a given geographic location than aredepicted in FIG. 1 without departing from the present disclosure. Inthis embodiment, all of reporting zones 101 a have been selected fordisplay within mapping application 102 as the box associated withreporting zones 101 a has been checked within menu 101. However, theremay be other embodiments wherein less than all of the reporting zonesfor a given geographic location may be selected, and in thoseembodiments, only the selected reporting zones would be viewable throughmapping application 102.

Menu 101 also may include active responses 101 b that may provide anindication of the real-time status of calls that may be in the processof being responded to (or require response) by one or more units.Various items of information may be included as part of active responses101 b including but not limited to the determinant, time remainingbefore the response would be considered late (which may be based oncontractual obligations of the entity controlling units responding to acall), and an identification of the unit(s) assigned to respond to acall. Active responses 101 b within menu 101 indicates that there arethree active responses within the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1. Each ofthese active responses has been selected within menu 101 to have theirrespective positions and actions displayed within mapping application102. It should be appreciated that more or fewer active responses may beselected for display within mapping application 102 at any given time.Accordingly, a user may elect to view less than all of the availableactive responses within menu 101 without departing from the presentdisclosure. Each response may be labeled according to its locationdeterminant as well as the amount of time remaining before the responsemay be considered untimely or late.

Units 101 c also may be selected within menu 101 to be displayed withinmapping application 102 according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. It should be appreciated that units 101 c may refer toindividual vehicles responding to a call and units 101 c may beorganized based on the status of different units so that it may bepossible to elect to display all of the units that fall within aspecified unit status at any given time according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Units 101 c may provide the status of all activeunits, and it should be appreciated that units 101 c within menu 101 maybe expanded so that a user may selectively display different unit statuswithin mapping application 102 at any given time. As depicted in menu101 of FIG. 1, units 101 c may be sorted based on various unit statusindicators including but not limited to available radio (AR), dispatched(DP), en route (ER), on scene (OS), transporting (TR), transport arrive(TA), en route to post (EP), on post (OP), and out of service (OU)according to embodiments of the present disclosure. While each of theseunit statuses are listed as part of units 101 c, it should beappreciated that more or fewer unit status indicators may be utilized atany given time without departing from the present disclosure. It alsoshould be appreciated that a user may elect to display all unitsregardless of status within mapping application 102 by selecting each ofthe unit statuses within units 101 c. For example, in FIG. 1, all unitstatus indicators except for those units identified as being out ofservice are selected for display within mapping application 502. If auser elected to also view units that are out of service (i.e., a unitthat may be on break but can be disturbed if a high priority call arisesthat is in an area where the unit may be of service), the user mayselect the box associated with those units as part of units 101 c andthose units may then be displayed though mapping application 102.

FIG. 2 depicts the status and movement of several units mapped within amapping application integrated with systems and methods according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, M2123 may bedesignated with a “TR” reflecting that it is transporting, and it mayhave an assigned color that may indicate the type of call beingresponded to and/or the location to which the unit is transporting(i.e., a particular hospital). M3121 also is designated as “TR” toreflect that it is transporting but it may have a different assignedcolor than M2123 to reflect that it is responding to a different calland/or transporting to a different location. M3127 may be designatedwith an “OS” to reflect that is on the scene of a specified call and maybe designated with a particular color to reflect the type of call and/orits location. Similarly, M2142 may be on the scene of a particular calland may be designated with a different color to reflect the type of calland/or its location. M3159 may be designated as “OP” to reflect that ison post while MS125 may be designated as “EP” as it is en route to post.Post 301 may be displayed within the mapping application to reflect thatit is currently recommended to be filled but is not yet filled by aunit.

Similarly, a user may elect to display units within a specified statusidentifier by expanding the dropdown menu associated with that statusidentifier. For example, in FIG. 1, five units have been designed withthe status identifier of “on scene,” and the user has elected to vieweach of these five units within the mapping application. However, if theuser wished to focus on a single unit, such as M2120, the other unitswithin that status identifier may be unselected and then laterreselected (if the user decides that he/she wants to display themagain).

In embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the unit displayedon a mapping application, such as mapping application 102, may providemore detailed information about that particular unit. FIG. 3 depicts aview of window 40 that may be displayed as a pop-up within the mappingapplication when a unit has been selected. Window 30 may provideinformation associated with the selected unit including but not limitedto the unit number, names of the crew members, the amount of timeremaining in the unit's shift, current destination, velocity, callnature, scene location and/or direction options. Direction options mayinclude hyperlinks such that selecting one of the hyperlinks may providedirections to or from the unit's current destination (or to or from apost or other location). However, other mechanisms for providingdirections may be included in window 30 without departing from thepresent disclosure. Scene or destination locations as well as postlocations also may be selectable icons within the mapping applicationwherein a window may provided to obtain directions or other routeinformation.

Systems formed according to embodiments of the present disclosure alsomay track the status of units as they approach the end of theirrespective shifts. For example, once a unit enters the last hour of itsassigned shift, the number “60” may appear in parentheses to the rightof the unit's current status within the mapping application. This numbermay be associated with a timer that may count down in real time untilthe unit's last hour has been eclipsed. Should the unit still be on dutyat the end of that hour or at the end of the countdown, the timer maydisplay a negative number in parentheses indicating the number ofminutes that the unit has been held over past the end of its shift. Itshould be appreciated that the number that appears may change dependingon contractual requirements or the specific length of a given unit'sshift without departing from the present disclosure. It also should beappreciated that this “end of shift” indicator may not place anyrestriction on whether the unit can be assigned an emergency call or apost move.

Places 101 d also may be selected for display within mappmg application102 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Places 101 d mayinclude particular facilities or other points of interest, including butnot limited to fire stations, hospitals and psychiatric facilitieswithin a given geographic location. However, it should be appreciatedthat other facilities or points of interests may be included as part ofplaces 101 d without departing from the present disclosure. A user mayselectively display one or more of the facilities or points of interestcategories within places 101 d by selecting each category within menu101. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the user has elected to onlyview places 101 d associated with healthcare (i.e., hospitals andpsychiatric health facilities) and accordingly has left fire departmentsunchecked. This may occur in a situation where the unit is an ambulancethat may be dispatched to the scene to assist someone with a medicalemergency, and the unit and/or dispatcher would need to be able toidentify the closest healthcare facilities that may be available totransport the patient. As fire stations would not be the likely placesto provide medical services, the unit would not have a need to viewwhere fire stations are located within mapping application 102. However,if a dispatcher is tracking movement of both fire trucks and ambulances,for example, the dispatcher may elect to display both fire stations andhealthcare facilities within mapping application 102 in order to directthe units from and to a response location in a timely manner. It alsoshould be appreciated that the categories within places 101 d may befurther subdivided so that a user may elect to view individual hospitalsor psychiatric health facilities listed within the category. This may behelpful, for example, if the dispatcher or the unit being dispatchedneeds to view particular facilities where the patient's physician iscredentialed to practice and could treat the patient upon arrival.

Posts 101 e may be selected for display within mapping application 102according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It should beappreciated that posts 101 e may be brick and mortar posts orside-of-the-road posts within a given geographic location. The numberand location of posts may vary depending on the requirements within aresponse zone and/or as set forth in contractual obligations forproviding emergency or other services in a given geographical locationor within one or more response zones. Contractual obligations mayidentify the maximum distance between posts within a response zoneneeded to keep the response time needed to respond to any call at aminimum. For example, posts may be locations where ambulance units arerequired to be positioned so that they may be easily dispatched todifferent reporting zones, particularly if some areas within a givenreporting zone may not be located within a reasonable distance from ahospital or other emergency response location where an ambulance unitmight typically be stationed. In an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, active posts where units are positioned at any given may bedisplayed as green Xs with the name (full or abbreviated) of the postwritten in green text. However, another color may be used to designatean active post without departing from the present disclosure.

Menu 101 may permit a user to selectively display posts 101 e withinmapping application 102. For example, a user may elect to display allposts within a given geographical location on mapping application 102.In other instances, a user may elect to only display active posts orjust post recommendations within mapping application 102. FIG. 1 depictsa view wherein the user has elected to view active posts and postrecommendations within mapping application 102. It also should beappreciated that within the categories in posts 101 e, a user mayutilize dropdown menus or other selection mechanisms associated with thecategories to view specific posts within each category. For example, auser may elect to just view certain active posts or only postrecommendations without departing from the present disclosure. If onlyactive posts are to be displayed, the system may display the postscurrently needing to be filled based on a system status plan accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure. If post recommendations are tobe displayed, lines traced from a recommended unit to a recommended postmay indicate recommended post moves.

FIG. 4 depicts another view of mapping application 102 with menu 101according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this view, theuser has elected to display only active responses 101 b within mappingapplication 102. For each active response, it should be appreciated thata specified amount of time that the unit associated with the activeresponse may be set for the unit to arrive at the scene (or respond tothe call). Colored circles 420, 430 may be displayed within mappingapplication 102 to surround the scene location and to provide areal-time view of the remaining time left before the respective units421, 431 associated with certain active responses would be considered“late” to respond. What is defined as “late” may be set throughcontractual obligations or otherwise established according toembodiments of the present disclosure. Colored circles 420, 430 maygradually constrict as the requisite response time diminishes. Once thecircle has disappeared from view on mapping application 102, this mayprovide the user with an indication that the response was late. Itshould be appreciated that there is no limitation as to the number ofcolored circles that may be displayed within mapping application 102.Further, while circles have been used as the graphical representation oftime left to respond to call in this embodiment, it should beappreciated that other shapes or indicators may be utilized to showremaining response time without departing from the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts another view of mapping application 102 with menu 101according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this view, theuser has elected to display only the fire stations within a specifiedgeographic area as part of places 101 d. This view may be of assistanceto a dispatcher who may wish to identify the fire stations within aresponse zone and determine which one may be closest to a sceneassociated with a call. It also may be of assistance when the dispatcherhas identified the fire station from which to dispatch a fire truck unitto a scene, and he/she may need to provide directions to the scene fromthe fire station. In other embodiments, a fire truck may have beendispatched to respond to a call, completed its response and thenrequires directions to return to the fire station. In this embodiment,the user may identify the fire station within mapping application 102and then select the fire station (such as by double clicking the firestation). Once the fire station has been selected, pop-up window 520 mayappear within mapping application 102 providing the user with one ormore hyperlinks to obtain directions to the fire station or from thefire station to another location. The hyperlinks may be associated, forexample, with the Google Maps API that may provide the mapping or otherdirectional information for mapping application 102. However, othermapping APIs or tools may be utilized without departing from the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts another view of mapping application 102 with menu 101according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In thisembodiment, the user has utilized pop-up window 520 depicted in FIG. 5to identify directions to the fire station. Once the hyperlinkassociated with “to here” has been selected within window 520, thelatitude/longitude information associated with the given fire stationmay be populated within mapping application 102 to create a route from astarting location (i.e., the scene of an incident) to the fire station.It should be appreciated that once a route is depicted within mappingapplication 102, the user may alter the route through selecting andmoving the route, such as by use of a mouse or track pad or otherselection mechanism, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure may provideinformation about the time that a unit has left to reach the scene basedupon contractual obligations or the needs of the patient or othersassociated with an incident (i.e., homeowner or business owner). Thedispatcher may also be provided with information to determine the bestunit to respond to a particular call, such as based on proximity of theunit to the scene associated with the call. It should be appreciatedthat a dispatcher may use systems and methods according to embodimentsof the present disclosure to assign, unassign and/or reassign units tocalls. For example, if a higher priority call is received, a unit may betraveling to respond to one call but then may be reassigned to thathigher priority call because of its proximity to the scene of the higherpriority call. Accordingly, the first call may be assigned to anotherunit for response. This may provide for real-time shifting of units torespond to different calls, thereby improving the timeliness of theresponse. This may be particularly helpful insofar as a dispatcher maybe asked to address both emergency and non-emergency calls, wherein somecalls may have higher priority than other calls.

A second module that may be utilized within systems according toembodiments of the present disclosure may be referred to as “PulseReporting.” This module may provide various tools for a user to evaluateperformance of units responding to calls and/or dispatchers sending outunits to respond to calls according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Reports provided through this module may be compiled andorganized based on one or more parameters including but not limited todate ranges, types of calls, and/or calls where the responding unit waslate to respond to the call. The reporting provided through this modulemay include reporting that may be required to show compliance withcontractual obligations. When a report is created through this module,the report may include hyperlinks associated with each call or itemincluded within the report so that a user may access the hyperlinks inorder to obtain additional information about one or more calls.Additional information may include but is not limited to type of call,event comments, and unit status changes during the call. It should beappreciated that reporting through this module may provided in variousformats, including but not limited to Excel, Word, Access or otherweb-based outputs.

A third module within systems according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be referred to as “Pulse Replay.” The “Pulse Replay”module may provide a user with the ability to select a call that hasalready occurred, replay the call in real-time as it would have beendepicted in the “Pulse Live” module and compare that call to otheractivity that was going on in a geographical location or within aresponse zone during the same time frame. For example, a user may wishto review and analyze a call where the responding unit was late in orderto determine whether the unit was late due to the timeliness ofreceiving the call from the dispatcher or because of some other issue,such as the unit taking a less than optimal route to respond to the callor the most appropriate unit was assigned to respond to the call. When acall is reviewed through the “Pulse Replay” module, the user mayidentify information including but not limited to, when the unitreceived notice of the call, where the unit was located when the callwas received, the route that the unit took to arrive at the scene,whether the route was the most direct route, and/or whether the unitencountered delays in arriving at the scene. For example, in order toevaluate if the most appropriate unit was assigned to respond to thecall, the “Pulse Replay” module may permit a user to review snapshots ofunits that were located within a response zone at the time when the callwas received by the dispatcher. A user also may review the accuracy ofthe end point (scene of the call) identified through the mappingapplication, such as to determine if other mapping or directionalapplications should be used to provide more accurate directions torespond to a call. A user also may utilize the “Pulse Replay” module toevaluate how quickly units are typically moving to respond to a callonce they are assigned. Accordingly, this module may be helpful for usein training, defending against claims, analyzing, and/or posting (i.e.,determining where best to position units relative to response zones).The “Pulse Replay” module may utilize a menu and/or mapping applicationin a manner similar to that depicted, for example, in FIGS. 1-6, but toreview historical data rather than real-time data.

It should be appreciated that calls may be evaluated through this “PulseReplay” module on a daily basis or less or more frequently according tothe needs or requirements of the user. In embodiments of the presentdisclosure, calls to be replayed through this module may be saved in amanner that may clip or excise out non-essential information related tothe call in order to make playback within the module more efficient. Itshould be appreciated that calls may be stored for use within the “PulseReplay” module for a specified period of time. In an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the calls may be stored for 13 months. However,calls may be stored for longer or shorter periods of time withoutdeparting from the present disclosure.

It also should be appreciated that playback within the “Pulse Replay”module may be expanded to review activity occurring within a responsezone or related to one or more specified units for a period of timeprior to receipt or assignment of the call and/or for a specified periodof time following the response to the call. The “Pulse Replay” modulemay work in conjunction with the “Pulse Live” module so that informationstored and captured during use of the “Pulse Live” module may be used bythe “Pulse Replay” module in order to function to review a particularcall or response.

As discussed above, a mapping application utilized within systems andmethods according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be colorcoded in order to maximize the amount of information that may be relayedvisually to a user. Colors and other unique display items may be used tohighlight different activities, movements and/or timing for completionwithin the online mapping application utilized in conjunction withembodiments of the present disclosure. For example, reporting zones maybe outlined and shaded. Units available to respond to calls may bedisplayed with information including but not limited to their unitnumber and an abbreviated status indicator. It also should beappreciated that different colors may be utilized to delineate amongavailable, assigned and out-of-service units, supervisor units, unitsnearing the end of their respective shifts. Further, scene locations maybe color-coded based on, for example, the priority level or type of thecall associated with the location according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. A user also may utilize color-coding that mayindicate whether an item being displayed is “live” or otherwise active.For example, if a green orb appears within the mapping application, theparticular item may be designated as “live.” If an update is being madeto a particular item, the orb associated with the item may temporarilyturn yellow during the update and then return to green when the updatehas been completed. If the orb turns red and remains red for anyspecified length of time, this may indicate that the item has stoppedupdating and/or there may be a problem with the system that needs to beaddressed. While certain colors have been specified to indicate activityassociated with a given item, it should be appreciated that other colorsmay be substituted without departing from the present disclosure.

Different line designations also may be used within a mappingapplication according to embodiments of the present disclosure. A solidline may be used to denote a unit's present specified route to respondto call, and the line may color-coded to correspond to that unit'sstatus. It also should be appreciated that different colored lines maybe depicted within the mapping application to indicate differentactivities. For example, white lines may be used to correspond to unitsassigned to post moves while black lines may be used for unitstransporting a patient. Colored lines may be used for units en route toan active incident wherein the color of the line may correspond to thetype or priority level of the call. Using this information, a user mayquickly identify the unit involved, what level of call the unit isresponding to, and where the unit is located and where the unit may betraveling.

Layering of different mapping displays also may be provided such that auser may toggle between various map layers that may be displayed withina mapping application according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For example, a roads layer may be selected so that a usermay view the road layout within a given geographic location along withblock ranges and/or exit numbers according embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure may, for example,utilize the Google Earth street view tool so that road segments may beviewable on the map. This may be helpful with difficult-to-locate callsor calls in which the caller can only provide directions and landmarksbut perhaps may not have a street address available to provide. Aweather layer may be applied to display the weather conditions within agiven geographic location and/or an overlay of the current Doppler radarimages. A places layer may display the names of businesses, governmentoffices, parks and/or other places that may be recognized through themapping application. A traffic layer may provide a display of thecurrent traffic conditions of major thoroughfares within a givengeographic location. A user also may elect to view differentgeographical borders (i.e., city, county or state) or labels (i.e.,names of cities or communities) within a mapping application. It shouldbe appreciated that the mapping application may allow for additional maplayers that may provide a more in-depth view of a given geographicallocation, and these map layers may be utilized at the preference of theuser according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

Systems and methods according to embodiments of the present disclosuremay provide for storage and viewing of custom map layers, such as foruse by the “Pulse Live” and “Pulse Replay” modules. For example, afolder may be created within the mapping application associated with agiven geographic location wherein a user may select or deselect variousitems/layers to be displayed within the mapping application at any giventime.

Systems according to embodiments of the present disclosure also mayincorporate viewfinder tools. For example, tools may be provided so thata user may reorient the viewing window of the mapping application, suchas to change the vantage point or move the viewing area of thegeographic location be displayed. If a user wishes to receive morespecific labeling or a more detailed view of items within the mappingapplication, the user may utilize a zooming function according toembodiments of the present disclosure. Similarly, if a unit or othericon is depicted within the mapping application, the icon may beselected (such as by double-clicking), and the mapping application maypermit the user to zoom in to focus on that particular icon according toembodiments of the present disclosure. It also should be appreciatedthat items depicted within a menu associated with a mapping applicationmay be configured to be expandable, such as through dropdown menus, sothat a user may select or deselect items associated with a layer forviewing within the mapping application.

It should be appreciated that response units utilizing systems andmethods according to embodiments of the present disclosure may eachinclude on board gateways with GPS receivers and/or PC mobile dataterminals in order to view and manipulate the mapping application withinthe units while on duty. Information concerning the status and/oractivities of the response unit may be transmitted through cellular,audio, video and/or other wireless communication mechanisms. The modulesoperating within systems and methods according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure may operate via the Internet or otherwise be onlineor web-based, utilizing a server and database structure, and accordinglymay be more stable, have more flexibility in where and how they may beused, and lessen the resources needed to operate the systems and methodsaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

While only three modules have been described as incorporated withinsystems according to embodiments of the present disclosure, it should beappreciated that other modules may be included within or utilized bythese systems and methods without departing from the present disclosure.It also should be appreciated that systems may be formed that do notinclude all three modules that have been described insofar as themodules may operate independently from each other. However, if more thanone of the modules is incorporated into a system, it should beappreciated that data may be shared among the modules according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

While systems and methods have been described with respect to emergencyvehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks, it should be appreciatedthat systems and methods according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure also may be applicable to other means for transport that mayor may not be emergency in nature but still may require tracking ormonitoring.

Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been describedin detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutionsand alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, thescope of the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, compositionof matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. Asone of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter,means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developedthat perform substantially the same function or achieve substantiallythe same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may beutilized according to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the appendedclaims are intended to include within their scope such processes,machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computerized vehicular tracking system,comprising: at least one server; at least one database coupled to the atleast one server and storing executable instructions configured to:evaluate vehicular movement associated with one or more vehicles;receive at least one incoming notification associated with an incident;prioritize said incident relative to any other incidents flagged by thevehicular tracking system; assess one or more attributes of possibleroutes connecting respective locations of the one or more vehicles to aresponse location corresponding to the prioritized incident; identify atleast one of said vehicles as a response vehicle to travel to saidresponse location; provide information, via a mapping applicationcoupled to the at least one server, corresponding to a time-varyingdisplay of a path of travel for the response vehicle, wherein saidinformation results in perceptible feedback that changes with time basedon progress of the response vehicle to the response location; and store,in the at least one database, tracking data corresponding to movement ofthe response vehicle to the response location.
 2. The system of claim 1,further comprising executable instructions configured to: generate areport for the prioritized incident based on the tracking data and atleast one notification associated with the prioritized incident, whereinthe report includes at least one of: a date of the at least onenotification, a type of the at least one notification, and a timelinessof response to the at least one notification.
 3. The system of claim 1,further comprising executable instructions configured to selectivelydisplay at least one of the following items within the at least onemapping application: a post location, a response location, an allowableresponse time remaining to reach the response location, a reportingzone, a current unit status, and satellite imagery associated with apost or response location.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one ormore attributes of possible routes connecting locations of the one ormore vehicles to the response location includes: weather surrounding thelocation of the one or more vehicles or the response location, trafficconditions associated with the possible routes, landmarks associatedwith the possible routes, road conditions associated with the possibleroutes, one or more reporting zones associated with the possible routes,information associated with active responses handled by the at least oneserver, and information associated with active posts where one or moreother vehicles are stationed.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the oneor more attributes of the possible routes are based on informationincluded in the mapping application.
 6. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising instructions configured to: update the possible routesconnecting the locations of the one or more vehicles to the responselocation based on changes in the one or more attributes.
 7. The systemof claim 1, wherein the tracking data includes live tracking ofvehicular movement associated with the one or more vehicles in real-timeor near real-time.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the path includesvisibly perceptible feedback connecting a location of the responsevehicle to the response location.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein thevisibly perceptible feedback includes a line connecting a location ofthe response vehicle to the response location, wherein a color of theline corresponds to a priority level of the notification.
 10. The systemof claim 1 wherein the tracking data includes vehicular movementassociated with the one or more vehicles, in addition to the responsevehicle.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one incomingnotification is included in a plurality of notifications, the systemfurther comprising instructions to: prioritize, at the at least oneserver, a plurality of incidents based on the plurality ofnotifications; and assign multiple response vehicles to responselocations associated with each of said incidents.
 12. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the one or more vehicles are categorized according toone or more selectable status indicators comprising: available radio,dispatched, en route, on scene, transporting, transport arrive, en routeto post, on post, or out of service.
 13. The system of claim 12, whereinthe one or more selectable status indicators are displayed within atleast one mapping application at a given time.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein the one or more selectable status indicators is assigned acolor that is displayed within the mapping application.
 15. A system fortracking and evaluating, based on interactions with at least one mappingapplication, characteristics of a response vehicle responding to a callassociated with an incident, the system comprising: at least one server;at least one database coupled to the at least one server, wherein the atleast one database is electronically coupled to: a module including amenu providing one or more selectable items and said at least onemapping application, said module configured to prioritize the callcorresponding to the incident, wherein the one or more selectable itemsare selectively displayed within the mapping application as the responsevehicle responds to the call; and a communication link to receive andtransmit information related to the response vehicle; wherein the atleast one server provides information for a time-varying display of anassociated route of the response vehicle on a map via the at least onemapping application, and wherein the route includes display of anindicator in real-time surrounding a response location corresponding tothe incident, the indicator configured to perceptibly change as aresponse time decreases.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one ormore selectable items comprise: places, posts, and weather surrounding alocation of the response vehicle or the response location, trafficconditions associated with the route, landmarks associated with theroute, road conditions associated with the route, a reporting zoneassociated with the route, information associated with active responseshandled by the at least one server, and information associated withactive posts where other response vehicles are stationed.
 17. The systemof claim 16, wherein the active responses provide information about thedeterminant, time remaining before a response is considered late, and anidentification of the response vehicle assigned to respond to the call.18. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one mapping applicationdisplays a colored line connecting the response vehicle to the responselocation on a geographic map, and wherein a color of the colored linecorresponds to a priority level of the call associated with the responselocation.
 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one mappingapplication provides one or more items of information associated withthe response vehicle, comprising: a numerical designation for theresponse vehicle, names of crew members for the response vehicle, anamount of shift time remaining for one or more crew members of theresponse vehicle, a current destination of the response vehicle, a speedof the response vehicle, call nature, scene location, and directionoptions.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein the system is configured totrack at least one status of the response vehicle as it approaches anend of an assigned shift, and to display information indicating anamount of time left in the assigned shift within the at least onemapping application.
 21. The system of claim 15, wherein the module is afirst module, the system further comprising: a second module to generatea report based on evaluation of performance of the response unitresponding to the call, wherein the report includes at least one of: adate of the call, a type of the call, and a timeliness of response tothe call.